COVID-19: Nigeria records 4,008 cases in five days
No fewer than 220 outbound passengers from Nigeria tested positive for the coronavirus disease at the point of departure, Saturday PUNCH has observed.
This was as analysis of daily epidemiological reports from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control revealed that 4,008 Nigerians tested positive for COVID-19 within five days.
Saturday PUNCH reports that the Africa regional office of the World Health Organization had raised concerns over the growing number of cases in Africa.
In fact, the WHO Regional Director, Dr. Moeti Matshidioso, during a recent briefing with journalists had stated that Africa was witnessing the fastest surge since May last year.
Matshidioso had also expressed concerns on the probable increase in cases during the festive period. She had also gone to suggest the imposition of local restrictions when “necessary”.
According to the NCDC, 220 outbound passengers tested positive at the point of departure in two weeks.
Though the NCDC did not disclose if the variants were of the omicron variant, the centre noted that there was an increase in the positivity rate of travellers.
On December 12, 2021, the centre noted that a total of 418 persons tested positive with Lagos leading with a cumulative figure of 314 cases and Oyo with the least number of cases.
On December 13, 2021, NCDC reported a total of 385 cases, while it did not report any case from Lagos, FCT led with a total of 116 cases which was closely followed by Delta with 115 cases.
The NCDC reported a total of 730 cases on December 14, 2021 with Lagos again taking the lead with 431 cases which was followed by the FCT with 174 cases
On December 15, 2021, there was a surge in infections as Lagos reported no fewer than 796 cases, Delta 152; FCT 130 and Edo State with 129 cases.
The centre also noted that Lagos reported 599 cases on December 16, 2021; FCT 238 and Rivers with 79 cases.
While the total number of cases reported so far within the period was 4,008; it was observed that Lagos led with a total of 2,443 cases.
Saturday PUNCH reports that so far, a total of 221,071 cases of the coronavirus disease has been confirmed in Nigeria. Punch
